Transamerica Pyramid and 555 California Street San Francisco
The Marine Layer covering all of San Francisco with the exception of the two tallest buildings in the City. The TransAmerica Pyramid and Bank of America Buildin...
Read more
The Marine Layer covering all of San Francisco with the exception of the two tallest buildings in the City. The TransAmerica Pyramid and Bank of America Building - 555 California Street
Read less
Read less
Aug, 2012Views
8056
Likes
Awards
Action Award
Zenith Award
Top Shot Award 22
Creative Winter Award
Curator's Selection
Legendary Award
2020 Choice Award
Featured
Pick Your Prize
Contest Finalist in Fog, Clouds and Mist Photo Contest
Blurb Credit and More
Contest Finalist in From The Top Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Unconventional Perspectives Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Hide And Seek Photo Contest
Prize Bundle
Peer Award
Superb Composition
Absolute Masterpiece
Top Choice
Outstanding Creativity
Magnificent Capture
Superior Skill
All Star
Jaw Dropping
Genius
Great Find
Exceptional Contrast
Love it
One Of A Kind
Emotions
Impressed
Top Ranks
Top 10 rankTop 10 rank week 1
Top 10 rankTop 10 rank week 2Top 10 rank week 1
Categories
PRO+
PRO
PRO+
PRO
Platinum
PRO+
Platinum
AlanJakarta
October 26, 2012
Fabulous capture at just the right time & very effective. Congratulations.
Platinum
korinna
February 01, 2013
Voted! If you like any of mine, pls vote for it:
http://www.viewbug.com/contests/urban-landscapes-photo-contest/2318665
http://www.viewbug.com/contests/urban-landscapes-photo-contest/2318669
http://www.viewbug.com/contests/urban-landscapes-photo-contest/2318665
http://www.viewbug.com/contests/urban-landscapes-photo-contest/2318669
PRO
PRO+
PRO+
PRO+
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Discover more photos See all
Behind The Lens
Location
This photograph was taken approximately 5000-8000 FT in the air over San Francisco, California. I had spent the day with my daughter doing a photowalk in San Francisco and my wife is a flight attendant, so my daughter and I had just flown out for the day from Arizona. We flew out from Oakland CA, "standby flight" and we took off on a Northbound runway and I saw the Marine layer coming up over the Hills of San Francisco from my window seat on the left side of the plane.Time
This image is unique for me, because it was never suppose to happen. As we took off, I was watching the marine layer roll in, I was on (at that moment in time), the West side of a Northbound airplane, it was on August 2nd, 2011 at 7:25 PM! Keep this in mind for the next paragraph.Lighting
7:25 is Sunset... A perfect time for a beautiful Sunset over the Pacific Ocean with the marine layer rolling in.... Total Perfection (Right?). Those very mean Airline Pilots, banked a hard left and made a 180 degree turn, as I am Screaming in my head "NO", I am still watching the marine layer and all of the sudden I saw these 3 buildings, poking out of the marine layer, with soft lighting on 2 of them and if you look closely, there is a ghost of a building to the left of the larger brown building, it has two American Flags on it's towers. The marine layer was rolling in so fast that I was only able to get 5 frames that capture anything before all of the buildings were covered. My camera at that time shot 8 frames per second. The light was changing quickly!Equipment
At that time I was shooting a Canon 60D, with a kit 18-200mm lens. I tell everyone that asks me how I captured this shot, that I was on a tall ladder. You have to have the ability to laugh at yourself if you want others to smile.Inspiration
I think the simplest way to explain the inspiration for this photograph was, I though it was a once in a lifetime shot for any photographer, and I knew that if I could capture and process it correctly, that it would be one of my personal favorites of my own photography, and it is.Editing
It is a single frame, I did process as a Raw file in Lightroom. I then made 2 additional virtual copies and sent them over to Photomatix HDR and did a 3 stop separation, and then did the HDR merge, I did some basic adjustments and imported it back into Lightroom, cleaned up a little noise and added a touch more contrast.In my camera bag
I switched over from the Canon 60D, with a 18-200mm lens to the Canon 7DMKII, and went to a couple of the L-Series lenses. I have the standard kit cable release, tripod and a couple of Filters and the extra battery grip. Yes I look at the guy shooting the new Sony - Alpha a7R II Mirrorless Camera 40 MP, that ways less then my battery grip, and wish I had known more about it, prior to purchasing my new kit. It seems more travel friendly, then the half of a ton of equipment I carry around now. :)Feedback
I was just meeting with a newer photographer over the last couple of hours. In the case of this shot, I only captured it because, I was in the right place, at the right time and was prepared to take advantage of a less then 1 second of opportunity. I have another photograph, that I shot 8 years ago and it was all wrong, so I spent the last 8 years waiting for a similar opportunity, of it snowing a lot in the Arizona desert on the Superstition Mountains. Jan,1st, 2015 the opportunity came again. I had scouted a better location and knew more about digital photography, Raw vs Jpeg and I got it right. That one took, 8 years, 2 hours of waiting for 5 min of golden light on a snow covered desert mountain. The moral of this photograph is, It's good to be lucky, but only if , but only if you are prepared for the lucky moment, regardless if it is 1 millisecond or 8 years, 2 hours and 5 minutes. Thank you, Jim
